Board of Equalization

The County Board of Equalization and the arbitration process:

The County Board of Equalization handles property tax protests.Once the CBOE has issued its decision, there are three options to appeal the decision, if the property owner is dissatisfied with the result.They are: filing in the district court; petitioning the State Board of Assessment Appeals 303-864-7710; or www.dola.colorado.gov/baa/ and binding arbitration.

The deadline for filing an appeal is 30 days from the date of the CBOE's decision letter.

The CBOE coordinates arbitration which is an informal process. A hearing is held before a single arbitrator selected by the property owner from a list independent arbitrators provided by the CBOE. By law, the arbitrators must have appraisal experience and knowledge of property valuation for property tax purposes. There is a fee for this service. A $150 deposit is required to protest each residential property and a $500 deposit for each commercial property. Both the property owner, or his representative, and a representative from the County Assessor's Office appear at the hearing to present their cases. Either party may be represented by an attorney. The decision of the arbitrator is final. A written report is issued by the arbitrator following the hearing.

To choose arbitration, the property owner simply writes a letter to the CBOE requesting it, mailing the letter to the 5334 S. Prince St., Littleton CO 80120 by the deadline. The letter should include the request, the property address, and both the PIN/Schedule Number and AIN Number (which can be found in the top right corner of the denial letter). After the deadline for filing has passed everyone who has requested arbitration will receive a packet with details about the process, the arbitrators and a formal petition. That same information is provided on this page.

Additional questions about arbitration should be directed to Karen Thompsen at 303-738-7847.